1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a so-called parallel plate type plasma processing apparatus configured such that the RF electrode is disposed opposite to the opposing electrode and a substrate positioned on the RF electrode is processed by means of plasma which is generated between the RF electrode and the opposing electrode, and to a plasma processing method using the plasma processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the wiring for a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer, it is required that the fine processing is carried out for the substrate before the wiring, and conventionally, in this point of view, a processing apparatus utilizing plasma is often employed for the fine processing.
In the conventional plasma processing apparatus, the high frequency (RF) electrode is disposed opposite to the opposing electrode in the vacuum chamber of which the interior is evacuated in vacuum condition. The substrate to be processed is held on the main surface of the RF electrode which is opposite to the opposing electrode so that the conventional plasma processing apparatus can constitute a parallel plate type plasma processing apparatus. A processing gas to generate the plasma and thus, process the substrate is introduced into the chamber through a gas conduit under a predetermined pressure by vacuum-evacuating the chamber with a vacuum pump through an exhaust line.
Then, a predetermined RF voltage is applied to the RF electrode from a commercial RF power source to generate a high frequency wave of 13.56 MHz so that the intended plasma can be generated between the RF electrode and the opposing electrode.
In this case, since the RF electrode (substrate) is charged negatively so as to be self-biased negatively (the amplitude of the electric potential: Vdc), positive ions are incident onto the substrate at high velocity by means of the negative self-bias of Vdc. As a result, the surface reaction of the substrate is induced by utilizing the substrate incident energy of the positive ions, thereby conducting an intended plasma substrate processing such as reactive ion etching (RIE), CVD (Chemical vapor Deposition), sputtering, ion implantation. Particularly, in view of the processing for the substrate, the RIE can be mainly employed as the plasma substrate processing. Therefore, the RIE processing will be mainly described hereinafter.
In the above-described plasma processing apparatus, since the Vdc (the average substrate incident energy of the positive ions) is increased as the RF power is increased, the RF power is controlled so as to adjust the Vdc for the appropriate processing rate and the shape-forming processing. The Vdc can be adjusted by controlling the pressure in the chamber and the shape of the RF electrode and/or the opposing electrode.
In the above-described plasma processing apparatus, the ion energy in the plasma generated in the chamber is divided into a lower energy side peak and a higher energy side peak so that the energy difference (ΔE)between the peaks becomes within a range of several ten (eV) to several hundred (eV). Therefore, even though the Vdc is adjusted appropriately, some of the ions incident onto the substrate are belonged to the higher energy range and the other of the ions incident onto the substrate are belonged to the lower energy range so that the ions with the higher energy coexist with the ions with the lower energy.
In the plasma substrate processing such as the RIE, in this point of view, the processing shape of the substrate may be deteriorated because some corners of the substrate are flawed by the ions with the higher energy. Moreover, if the ions with the lower energy are employed, the substrate processing may not be conducted because the ion energy becomes below the surface reaction threshold energy or the processing shape of the substrate may be also deteriorated due to the reduction in the processing anisotropy which is originated from that the incident angle range of the ions are enlarged because the thermal velocity of each ion is different from another one.
Recently, semiconductor devices are much downsized so that the films or complex films composing the semiconductor devices are finely processed. Therefore, the processing technique such as the RIE is required to be finely controlled by narrowing the ion energy range (realizing a smaller ΔE) and controlling the average substrate incident energy (Vdc) appropriately.
In order to narrow the ion energy range, it is considered that the intended plasma is generated by developing the frequency of the high frequency wave (refer to JP-A 2003-234331 (KOKAI)) or by utilizing a pulsed wave (refer to J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 88, No. 2, 643 (2000)).
The plasma generation can be mainly classified as inductive coupling type plasma generation and capacity coupling type plasma generation. In view of the fine control for the processing shape, it is effective that the plasma volume is decreased so that the plasma retention time can be shortened, thereby reducing the byproduct reaction. As a result, the capacity coupling plasma generation is effective for the fine control for the processing shape in comparison with the inductive coupling plasma generation because the capacity coupling plasma generation can generate only a plasma with a smaller volume than the inductive coupling plasma generation.
It is also considered that two high frequency waves with the respective different frequencies are applied to the RF electrode so that the plasma density can be controlled by the high frequency wave with a higher frequency of e.g., 100 MHz and the Vdc can be controlled by the high frequency wave with a lower frequency of e.g., 3 MHz (refer to JP-A 2003-234331 (KOKAI)). In this case, the plasma density and the Vdc can be finely controlled. Then, two sets of high frequency power sources and matching boxes are prepared for the high frequency waves with the higher frequency and the lower frequency, respectively, so that the high frequency wave with the higher frequency can be superimposed with the high frequency wave with the lower frequency.
In view of the cleaning process and the processing stability, it is desired that the opposing electrode is electrically grounded. If the RF voltage is applied to the opposing electrode, the opposing electrode may be eroded due to the self bias of Vdc applied to the opposing electrode, thereby creating some dusts and render the processing condition unstable. In this point of view, as described above, the two high frequency waves are applied to the RF electrode under the superimposing condition.                [Document No. 1] JP-A 2003-234331 (KOKAI)        [Document No. 2] G. Chen, L. L. Raja, J. Appl. Phys. 96, 6073 (2004)        [Document No. 3] J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 88, No. 2, 643 (2000)        
Such a high frequency technique as examining for ion energy range narrowing is effective for the narrowing of the energy difference ΔE because ions can not follow the electric field from the high frequency wave, but not effective for the enhancement of the Vdc because the absolute value of the Vdc becomes small. For example, if a high frequency wave with a frequency of 100 MHz and an electric power of 2.5 kW is employed (under the condition that the diameter of the susceptor is set to 300 mm, and the pressure in the chamber is set to 50 mTorr using Ar gas), the absolute value of the Vdc is lowered than the Vdc threshold value (about 70 eV) of oxide film or nitride film. Therefore, even though the oxide film and the nitride film is plasma-processed under the condition that the Vdc is lowered than the threshold value, the oxide film and the nitride film can be processed at an extremely processing rate, which can not be practically employed.
On the other hand, if the average substrate incident energy of the positive ions (Vdc) is increased by increasing the RF power, the energy difference ΔE can not be reduced because the Vdc is proportion to the energy difference ΔE during the control of the average substrate incident energy (Vdc) with the RF power. Moreover, the RF power of about 7 kW is required so as to realize the Vdc of 100V at 100 MHz, which becomes difficult because it is difficult to bring out such a large RF power from a commercially available RF power source with a maximum power within a range of 5 to 10 kW. As a result, the high frequency technique can be applied for such a plasma processing as requiring a lower surface reaction threshold energy, but may not be applied for such a plasma processing as requiring a higher surface reaction threshold energy (70 eV or over) because it is difficult to control the Vdc commensurate with the plasma processing.
In the use of the two high frequency superimposed waves, since the energy difference ΔE is enlarged because the ion energy in the plasma is divided into the lower energy side peak and the higher energy side peak, the energy difference ΔE can not be narrowed.
In the use of the pulsed wave technique, since the ion energy in the plasma is directly controlled by means of the periodically DC voltage, it is advantageous for the ion energy range narrowing and the ion energy control. In this technique, however, since the plasma may be rendered unstable because the applying voltage is remarkably decreased and the plasma density is decreased at DC voltage off-state, and the large current is generated in the plasma when the DC voltage is also applied. Particularly, when an insulator formed on the substrate is plasma-processed, the surface electric charge on the insulator can not be discharged effectively during one period of the DC pulse so that the plasma is rendered unstable and thus, diminished. Moreover, since the large current is generated intermittently in the plasma, the device under fabrication may be electrically damaged, so that a stable parallel plate type pulsed plasma can not be generated.